Traci Lords | |
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Lords at the QVC Red Carpet Style Party in February 2011
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Born |
Nora Louise Kuzma May 7, 1968 Steubenville, Ohio, U.S. |
Residence | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
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Years active | 1984–present |
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Children | 1 |
Website | tracilords |
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Traci Elizabeth Lords (born Nora Louise Kuzma on May 7, 1968) is an American actress, singer, model, writer, producer, and director. She achieved notoriety in the mid-1980s after authorities discovered that she was underage when she posed nude and appeared in numerous pornographic films. A native of Steubenville, Ohio, Lords initially landed a job as a nude model at the age of fifteen by using a fake driver's license. After being featured in the September 1984 issue of Penthouse magazine, she appeared in dozens of illegal videos between 1984 and 1986, and became one of the most sought-after pornographic actresses of the era. During May 1986, when law enforcement discovered she had been underage while making all but one of her hardcore films, distributors and video rental stores were ordered to remove all her videos to avoid the risk of prosecution for trafficking in child pornography. The withdrawal of her films cost the industry millions of dollars and her case became the biggest scandal to affect the adult film industry.
After her departure from pornography, Lords enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute where she studied method acting with the intention of becoming a mainstream actress. She made her screen debut in 1988 (two years after quitting porn), when she had a leading role in the remake of Roger Corman's sci-fi classic Not of This Earth. Lords followed with the role of Wanda Woodward in John Waters' teen comedy, Cry-Baby (1990). Her other acting credits include the television series MacGyver, Married... with Children, Tales from the Crypt, Roseanne, Melrose Place, Profiler, First Wave, Gilmore Girls and Will & Grace. She also appeared in films such as Virtuosity (1995), Blade (1998), Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) and most recently Excision (2012), which earned her Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as Fright Meter Award and CinEuphoria Award.